Crypto Markets Reel on Geopolitical Risk

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(CoinMasa)

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Cryptocurrency prices remained firmly in the red after the Fed decided to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday. Chairman Jerome Powell’s cautious comments about the possibility of a September rate cut were exacerbated by rising tensions in the Middle East. Iranian leaders ordered retaliation against Israel for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which may have spooked investors and traders. Bitcoin traded at around $64,500 in European morning trading, about 2.5% lower than 24 hours earlier. The broader digital asset market fell about 4.24% as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20).

Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms reported a second-quarter loss that more than tripled to more than $84 million, or $0.32 per share. Selling, general, and administrative expenses rose to $61.2 million, more than half of which was stock compensation expenses related to new grants under its long-term incentive program. The net loss for the quarter also included a $76.4 million decrease in the fair value of its bitcoin holdings. The bitcoin halving in April, which reduced the reward miners receive for adding new blocks to the blockchain by 50%, reduced the number of bitcoins Riot produced during the quarter. The company mined 844 BTC, 52% less than the same period a year earlier.

Ripple will allocate $10 million to a tokenized version of U.S. Treasury bonds (T-bills) that will be available on the XRP Ledger for the first time. Short-term U.S. government debt is issued as TBILL tokens by tokenization platform OpenEden. The assets backing the tokens will be invested in short-term U.S. Treasury bonds and reverse repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. Treasury bonds. The tokenization of tangible real-world assets and traditional financial securities is a growing sector of the crypto industry. It allows traditional assets, particularly private and alternative assets, to be issued, managed, and distributed in a manner that is considered more efficient than their off-chain counterparts.

Chart of the Day

(Velocity Data)

The chart shows the most active bitcoin options on Deribit in the last 24 hours.

Investors are looking again at $100,000 futures options expiring in September and December, indicating a bullish trend.

Bitcoin failed to rise above $70,000 on Monday and has since fallen below $64,500.

Source: Velo Data

– Omkar Godbole

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